Not Now, Maybe Never
by Barrel Racing Brat
Summary: Clary is a barrel racer in Texas and gets a scholarship to Texas A&M for barrel racing and she meets a certain boy that needs some serious help
1. Chapter 1

Not Now, Maybe Never

Chapter 1

Maybe I am not a people person, but that does not explain much about me. My only real friend is my horse, Gimzer. Sure I have a few NORMAL friends, but Gimzer is my one **true friend**. We ride in parades, and in rodeos. I compete with him in play days and any small rodeo. Gimzer is my 18 year old American Quarter Horse that I trained all by myself. My horse and I had competed enough that we got noticed by college scouts and had gotten a scholarship to attend Texas A&M University to ride barrels and take veterinary courses. Today is my first day at college.

"Gimzer I am so nervous! With first day classes and rodeo team, I don't know what to do!" I said to my saddled horse. I gave him one more once over to make sure all of his tack was where it was supposed to be, tightening my cinch and putting his splint boots on him. As we started to make our way to the practice arena, a dark haired girl came over to me with her black gelding.

"Hi! I am Isabelle, but you can call me Izzy! This is my horse Shadow. What is your name?" the girl, Izzy, asked me.

"I am clary, and this is my horse Gimzer. He is a little goofy until he starts to run, then he is serious." I said as we walked into the arena and started to warm up. Our warm up consisted of 6 loops around the arena at a trot and 6 at a lope going one way, then going another. After about 10 to 15 minutes of warming up, coach called us all up to the center of the arena before we practiced.

"Now, I am sure we have all noticed that we have a new member of the A&M rodeo team, but I am also sure that you will all make sure to make her and her horse comfortable. " Coach told everyone, making me blush a bright scarlet. Then a boy with gold hair sitting on a palomino mare decided to comment.

"I thought the team was filled up? Last time I asked you about having someone join, you said the team was full." The boy said with distain tinting his voice.

"Jace I was holding the spot for Clary. But since you want to get an attitude, why don't you run the barrels NOW." Coach said with no fear in his voice. "LINE UP!" he yelled at us. We all lined up along the fence and waited for Jace to come out of the alley. When he did eventually run out his form was all wrong. He was tense, not giving any slack to his horse's mouth on the turns, and had his heels way to high. No surprise when he knocked 2 out of 3 barrels with a time of 20.9 without the penalty added.

"JACE WHAT IS GOING ON WITH YOU! YOU HIT 2 OF THE BARRELS!" Coach yelled at him then flicked him off. Jace returned to the line-up. Much to my surprise it was my turn. I heard coach calling to me, telling me to show my stuff and show them how it was done.

Gimzer and I came up to the alley, Gimzer dancing the entire way down with excitement, and shot out like a bullet from a gun when he felt the spurs. He slowed down enough that he could take the barrel and not fall or knock it, then he went for the next barrel. I had to fight with him to change leads on time, but eventually caught the correct lead and went around the next barrel. He then flew out of that turn and flew for the final turn and sprinted home. When we got through the alley, Gimzer hit the brakes and came back to the team. Coach had a look of pride and surprise on his face.

"14.23 with a clean ride." Coach called out to the team.

"Jace, maybe Clary should help you after school with these. Her horse is 18 and is running the barrels like he is 5. How long have you been racing Clary?"

"6 years. It took me 8 months to train my horse to be as good as he is now. If he wants me to help him, I will." I replied shyly. Everyone started to look at me like 'OMG seriously'.

"GREAT! Thank you, Clary. Now, time for the rest of the team.

As the rest of the members rode through the pattern, only 2 other people made a clean ride. Not nearly as good a time as mine, then the coach dismissed us all. I lead Gimzer to the barn and started to untack him. Jace gave me a rude look but approached and said that he would take the lessons but he would only be able to come after school and I agreed with him. Then I fed Gimzer and headed out to get cleaned up and ready for my first day in class.

**AN: Please review and let me know if I should keep writing this story or if I should delete it. Just in case anyone is wondering, Gimzer is actually my horse in real life and my avatar is a picture of him. Please Review! Thank you.**

**DISCLAIMER- I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE MORTAL INSTRUMENT CHARACTERS. I ONLY OWN THE SITUATIONS AND GIMZER!**


	2. Chapter 2

Not Now, Maybe NEVER

Chapter 2

_**I MUST recommend the song I am listening to right now… "This ain't a scene it's an arms race" By Fall Out Boy. DO NOT LISTEN TO IT IF YOU ARE A. VERY RELIGIOUS OR B. UNDER THE AGE OF 14.**_

_**DISCLAIMER- I do not, even though I would like to, own any of the Mortal Instruments characters. I only own Gimzer, and all of the situations. THANKS! – Barrel Racing Brat.**_

__After an entire day of nothing but boring classes, a afternoon with my horse sounds DIVINE. Then I remember that I am helping that arrogant ass Jace with his barrels. By the time I got to the stables, and got Gimzer saddled, he had not shown up. Nice.

"Jace, I'm sorry! Please. Give me another chance. I know I dissed rodeo and Tucker, but it is true! All of the people are idiots and who in their right mind would want to get on a bull and risk getting killed?" I heard a girl cry.

"Aline, that is why I can't be with you. Horses are a hell of a lot smarter than you are, and rodeo is FUN! Bull riding, I will admit is pretty stupid, but still, rodeo is fun to get to do, and watch. Just. Go away." I heard Jace tell the girl, Aline, before storming off leaving her sobbing and running off. I turned around to start leading Gimzer out to the arena and Jace just stopped and stared.

"What are you looking at new girl? Never heard an argument?" he sneered, reaching up for his bridle. I decided to ignore that comment, and then I heard his horse start to get nervous.

"Come here you damn, untrained thing!" I heard him shout. I walked over to the stall and just watched.

"You know… there is an easier way to do this." I said, walking into the stall. I grabbed the bridle from Jace's hand and got his horse. "Just keep your posture relaxed, and your voice down and you will get him every time." I said giving him Tuckers reins. I got Gimzer and started for the arena. "You have 15 minutes. I am going to warm up. Hurry up." I told him.

A few minutes later, while Gimzer and I were loping around the arena, Jace came trotting in. He immediately started to warm up without any incentive. Good. After 2 loops of him loping, I stopped him.

"Stop, stop, stop. You need to fix several things. One, dismount." And he did. "Now, put your hand where your thighs rest on the saddle. Now, pick up your stirrup and line it up to your arm. See, it is too long. Adjust it." I barked at him. That was unlike me, but still. He quickly adjusted his stirrups and mounted up again. Next I grabbed his heels and pulled them down so that the ball of his foot was resting on the stirrup. I quickly ran my nails up his back to make him sit straight (AN: my instructor did that to me a lot) and had him hold his reins correctly in his left hand.

"Look Jace. You need to look like this when you ride. Heels down, reins held right, and back straight." I told him. He actually managed to do what I had showed him, so I had him walk/ trot the barrels. When he made it through cleanly, I moved him up to a lope/gallop. After several hours of work with him and his horse, he finally made it through the pattern with a good time and a clean ride. After I took a few minutes to give him a few tips when going around the barrels, we started to head back to the barn.

"Gimzer, I don't know what to do! My life is a wreck. You are the only good thing that has come out of this entire thing. You always stay with me no matter what." I told my horse. I hugged his warm neck, relishing in the warmth and almost did not notice the voice clearing behind me.

"It is getting late. I can help you untack if you want Red." He whispered. I nodded yes and we set to work on taking care of my baby.

"So. How did you get into riding?" Jace asked me, unstrapping Gimzers splint boots.

"I started at about 11 years. I got this good boy right before I turned 13. I had a friend that did a lot of playdays and everything and always bragged about how well she did, I just wanted to show her up. One day, Gimzer and I rode in one of her playdays and showed her up. She was so mad but let it slide. I have been competing for awhile now." I told him, taking off Gimzers bridle, and placing it on his saddle horn. Jace pulled off the saddle and placed it on the saddle rack. We both started to brush Gimzer down and turned to leave the stall.

"So how did you start riding?" I asked him.

"I would rather not talk about it. Any ways, I have a lot of HW and need to get going. Thanks for the help. Goodnight" he told me, walking off.

"Goodnight." I said to him. I silently said goodnight to my horse and left the barn, making sure to lock it behind me.

**AN: TELL ME. LOVE IT, HATE IT? SHOULD I CONTINUE? LET ME KNOW!** **CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISIM WELCOME!**


	3. Chapter 3

Ch. 3

CPOV

I woke up, for the first time in a long time, feeling refreshed and well energized. Today, I had rodeo team, and 3 classes *grr*. But as always, the thought of getting to see my horse made me smile and want to get running out the door. I hurried and got ready for practice. I had been at the school for about 3 weeks and coach said he had something important for us today. Jace had been preforming well in practices and had actually become a nicer person to me and his horse.

I ran to the barn so I could get Gimzer his feed and start hunting for all of my gear. Hurriedly, I feed my baby his breakfast and started to get ready for practice.

"Clary, could you come here?" Coach called from his office. I set all of my stuff down in front of Gimzer's stall and walked up the stairs to coaches office.

"There is a rodeo in 3 days. I put our team down to compete, even the bull riders and the trick riders (AN: That was a tip in one of my reviews. THANKS FOR THE IDEA). Do you think that we are ready for this? We only have room for 5 riders in barrels, 4 because we need you to be with us on this one. If we have all of the riders run their event, can you pick the 4 out and give me their names?" He asked me. I had to think about it, then I decided that it could not hurt anyone if I did. I agreed to the job and ran to Gimzer.

"Gimzer, it looks like we have a rodeo coming up. Let's get moving to the arena." I said as I finished tacking up in record time. We joined the rest of the team in warming up and lining up when called. Coach called me to his side to tell the team about the rodeo then he left it to me.

"Okay, I know I have not been riding here as long as most of you, but you need to trust my decision. I have a lot of friends on this team, yes, but I will be fair in my decision. If I do not pick you, DO NOT get an attitude. You need to show me that you are capable of running a clean pattern at a break neck pace. I REFUSE TO TAKE YOU TO ANY RODEO IF YOU GET AN ATTITUDE WITH ME ON THIS ONE! I will call the people I choose over to the center of the arena at the end of practice to discuss the details. Understood?" I said, trying to make VERY clear my position. The team nodded and started to get to work. As I started calling out the riders, it was made very clear to me that the team was being reckless. Then I called out Jace. He was the first rider all day that filled the quota. Clean ride, break neck speed, smooth transitions, and perfect posture. He definitely made it. I kept calling out riders, and came down to the last 5. Isabelle, Sebastian, Jonathan, Hannah, and Renée. Hannah had run a nice, clean ride, but had bad posture, something that could be fixed. Renée knocked a barrel and had jerky movements when coming around the barrel and on her lead change, Isabelle, Sebastian and Jonathan ran a clean ride, much similar to Jace's. I had my team picked out and ready to go. I dismissed the team, but called those 4 to the center of the arena.

"You 4 were the only 4 that could get everything right. I almost thought I would have to take some of the worst riders. We are leaving in tomorrow at 9:45, so we can get our animals acclimated to the area and the arena, so don't be late. We will be spending 2 days practicing and getting comfortable in the area as well. We have the possibility of going through 4 levels. First, it is the Prelim, then it is the quarter finals, then the semi- finals, the finals. After each round, 4 riders will be cut. There will be schools from all across Texas there. So of this group, it is possible that only one of us will make it to quarter finals. Top 15 gets a trophy saddle, top 5 gets a trophy saddle with a $10,000 prize. Get it? Got it? Good. Go take care of your horses and get to class. See you tomorrow morning." I said to them. I had competed in a rodeo similar to this one once. I got top 10. I just hope that this ride turns out to be very well. At the best, all of us could make it to the finals and place top 5, which would be awesome. I just hope that will happen.

A/N- I have PSAT's coming up, along with a choir concert, and an FFA meeting this week, so I won't have much time to write much. I am sorry that this chapter is so short, but I have been REALLY busy lately. I don't own TMI. I only own Gimzer, Hannah, Renée and all situations. I want to see 10 reviews before I update next. I recommend 2 anime's for the people that watch them. Fruits Basket, and Fairy Tail. Both are pretty good. UNTIL NEXT TIME!

Barrel Racing Brat


	4. Chapter 4

Ch 4

When you know something good is coming up, the day seems to go longer… just as when something bad, like getting yelled at by your mother, comes up the day speeds by. That was today. By the time my final class for the day had gotten out, I was going crazy from the excitement of my rodeo tomorrow. I had given coach all of the names of the rider that I recommended, so that he could e-mail all of our professors and let them know that we were going to be gone for a few days. As soon as the bell had rung, I ran out to the barn so I could get my Gimzer saddled for Jace's lesson. To my surprise, Sebastian, Isabelle, Jace, and Jonathan were already at the barn and saddling up.

"What going on?" I asked the riders.

"We all want to have a lesson from you so we can get a better time." Isabelle said, and turned back to her horse. I just nodded and hurried about tacking up my horse.

When I finished and we had all warmed up, I gave them activities to do. They had to run their horse as fast as they could to the first barrel, drop a flag into it, and then do the same with the others while I was timing them. This helped the rider and the horse balance and bend on the turns. It is also a lot of fun and challenging. After that, I had them run the pattern just like they would in the actual rodeo, and they found that it was a whole lot easier to turn. After the lesson we went back into the barn, took care of our tired horses, and went to our dorms. I reminded them to be at the barn by 9 so we could leave by 9:45. Just as I was walking out of the barn, coach called my name, and told me to go up to his office. I climbed the stairs up to the loft/office and went in.

"Okay Clary. I am really impressed with your choice of riders for this rodeo. But that is not what I brought you up here for. I need to give you these." He said, picking up a pile of clothes, a saddle pad, and a blanket and carrying them to me. I looked through the pile and saw that it was an A&M show shirt, a maroon saddle pad with Gimzers name on it, a maroon turn out blanket, again with Gimzers name on it, and a jacket with my name on it.

"These are competition gear. The jacket is for parades and general wear. The saddle pad is for competition, and the blanket is for travel and general turn out. The show shirt needs to be ironed and fresh so we look decent. Okay?" he told me. I nodded and went back downstairs. I looked at Gimzer and the reality came crashing down on me. I would be competing for A&M in a few days. I sat the tack down on the stall door and got all of my gear organized. Saddle pad under the saddle on the tack rack, blanket on my horse so I wouldn't have to put it on him later, grooming tools, splint and bell boots, and crop all under my saddle. I was ready to go. I kissed my horse good night and shut his stall door. I walked out of the barn and headed straight to my apartment.

**~At the apartment~**

As I walked into my room, I set my clothes down on my bed, went to the kitchen and started to make my dinner. I was so tired and it was only 8:00. I sat down in front of my TV and turned on the news. I saw that the preparations for the rodeo and parade were going well and the parade would be tomorrow with the rodeo following 2 days after, giving the riders a day to practice. I saw that they did a segment for all of the riders, mine being the longest. They showed past rodeos of the riders, and any accidents. That was the part I most dreaded. As my part started, the first thing that they showed was my accident.

My horse had made a good time through the entire pattern but I pushed him to do better. He was sprinting around the barrels, not slowing down like he should have, and turned really sharp around the barrel. I had thought we would make it around with no problem. It turned out I was wrong. His foot slipped out from under him at the last second and he fell on top of my leg, with my spurs digging into his side. He tried to get up but the tie-down kept him from pulling his head up and it scared him. He fell backwards on top of me and almost killed me. My horse had to be put to sleep because he was too traumatized and could not run barrels again. That was before I got Gimzer.

I immediately turned off the TV and ran out into the hall way so I could try and calm down. I found myself running out of the building and onto the sidewalk. The accident still felt like yesterday. I had gotten over my trauma but I was still hesitant when sprinting to the barrels. Tears started streaming down my face. I had let my horse down. His name was Felix. He had been my barrel horse for 16 years then he had to be killed. He tried to slow down going into the turn, but I wouldn't let him. I started to cry harder.

"Clary?" a voice called. "Clary, are you okay?" The voice called again. I looked up and saw Jace standing in front of me. He looked worried and he tried to calm me down, whispering soothing words.

"Jace. I am so sorry. You shouldn't have to worry about me." I sniffled. He looked at me like I was crazy.

"Clary, I do have to worry about you. You are the best barrel racer here, along with one of my friends. Of course I am going to worry." He said. "Come on. Let's get you home." He said. He picked me up and right then, I passed out.

**AN: Okay, you get permission to be honest with me. I am sorry I haven't updated this story lately, I have been really busy. Thank you to all of my reviewers! I love you all and keep updating!**


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